Project Advisor Consultant - Programme Group (Remote)

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy, and operations. The Global Programme Division (GPD) plays a central role in driving programme excellence across UNICEF. It provides global strategic leadership and policy direction, develops and monitors frameworks and standards, and ensures coherence and alignment across sectors, regions and partners. GPD generates high-impact, evidence-based solutions and serves as a hub of specialized expertise, offering technical guidance on policy reform and scalable programming. GPD leads UNICEF’s policies, standards and negotiations for programme, ensuring the organization’s assets and priorities are aligned with and contribute to child development goals. In addition, GPD strengthens country-level implementation through integrated technical support, linking global policy with on-the-ground action to deliver results for children at scale. As part of this structure, UNICEF has established Centers of Excellence (CoEs) to provide high-quality, demand-driven technical assistance to Country and Regional Offices, and their governments and partners. Located strategically in Nairobi, Panama, Amman and Bangkok, the CoEs bring together cross-cutting expertise across time zones. Global Programme Practices in CoEs function as a single point of entry for support, delivering tailored assistance in priority areas such as policy reform in matters that advance the wellbeing of children, at-scale programme design, public finance, workforce development and institutional strengthening, and timely humanitarian response while promoting resilient development. In so doing, the CoEs also contribute to global policy standards ensuring that UNICEF’s support is grounded in practical knowledge.

The Project Advisory Consultant will provide strategic and technical guidance to support the successful establishment and operationalization of the Centers of Excellence (CoEs). The consultant will work closely with the Director of PG, the Chief of Operations, and the project coordination team to identify and mitigate risks, ensure readiness of CoE locations, and strengthen financial and grant management functions.

Scope of Work:

Strategic Advisory Support

• Advise the Director of PG and the project coordination team on strategic risks and opportunities related to the CoE establishment.
• Provide expert input on recruitment strategies, location readiness, financial sustainability, and programme offerings.

Risk Management

• Maintain and regularly update the project risk register.
• Identify emerging risks and propose mitigation strategies.
• Design and recommend internal controls to address identified risks.
• Advise senior management on risk prioritization and response planning.

Operational Readiness

• Collaborate with the Chief of Operations to assess and ensure the physical, logistical, and administrative readiness of CoE locations.
• Support the development of operational plans and readiness checklists.

Financial and Grant Management

• Provide strategic insights into the financial and grant management functions of the GPD.
• Review financial plans and advise on budget alignment with CoE objectives.
• Support the development of financial monitoring tools and reporting mechanisms.

 Knowledge Transfer and Programme Design

• Advise on mechanisms for effective knowledge transfer to CoE staff and stakeholders.
• Review and provide input on the programme offerings of the CoEs to ensure relevance, quality, and sustainability.

Deliverables:

• Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
• Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
• Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.
• Female candidates meeting the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds including persons living with disabilities to apply.
• Individuals engaged under a consultancy contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.
• The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
• UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.